The Maltese alphabet consist of 30 letters. It is usually Semitic in sound. It has short vowels and also long vowels.

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The Maltese alphabet consists of 30 letters. NOTE: The examples given in this guide follow the pronunciation in British English, which might be different than American English.

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Some pronunciation hints: the common letter combination ''g&#295;'' is a direct descendant of the Arabic ''ayin'' and is silent most of the time, except: when it is the last letter at the end of a word, or the letter immediately before a silent ''h'', in which case the għ takes on a hard h sound. ''H'' (h) is silent, and ''ħ'' (Ħ) is hard. ''Ġ''(ġ) is soft, and ''g'' (G) is hard. Likewise ''ż'' and ''z'', whilst ''ċ'' and ''j'' are always soft. ''X'' is pronounced "sh", and the ''ie'' group has a prolonged ''ee'' sound.

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In brief:

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Ħ = ''H''at

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Ġ = Lo''dg''e

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G = ''G''oat

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Ż = ''Z''ero

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Z = I''ts''

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Ċ = ''Ch''erry

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J = ''Y''ellow

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X = ''Sh''ogun

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GĦH (Ta''għh''a) = ''H''ers

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-GĦ (Qlu''għ'') = ''H''ound

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IE (J''ie''na) = M''ea''n

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===Vowels===

===Vowels===

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a

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e

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i

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o

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u

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ie

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; a : like 'a' in "after"

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; e : like 'e' in "enter"

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; i : like 'e' in "evil"

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; o : like 'o' in "often"

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; u : like 'u' in "emu"

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; ie : like 'ea' in "mean"

===Consonants===

===Consonants===

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The consonants that are different from those in English are:

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ċ Ċ, ġ Ġ (But there is still G), ħ Ħ (There is still h), għ GĦ, ż Ż (There is still z)

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; b : like 'b' in "ball"

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; ċ : like 'ch' in "church"

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; d : like 'd' in "door"

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; f : like 'f' in "fork"

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; g : like 'g' in "gone"

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; ġ : like 'j' in "jump"

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; għ : mostly silent, except at the end of a word or immediately before 'h', in which case, it sounds like 'ħ'

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; h : mostly silent, except at the end of a word, in which case, it sounds like 'ħ'

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; ħ : like 'h' in "hold"

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; j : like 'y' in "yellow"

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; k : like 'c' in "cake"

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; l : like 'l' in "love"

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; m : like 'm' in "make"

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; n : like 'n' in "nice"

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; p : like 'p' in "pig"

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; q : glottal stop, no direct equivalent. Similar to the Cockney English pronunciation of 'tt' in "bottle"

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; r : like 'r' in "rail". Rolled like the Spanish 'r'.

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; s : like 's' in "saw"

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; t : like 't' in "tail"

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; v : like 'v' in "victory"

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; w : like 'w' in "weight"

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; x : like 'sh' in "shore"

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; z : like 'ts' in "dots"

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; ż : like 'z' in "zero"

===Common diphthongs===

===Common diphthongs===

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Line 46:

===Basics===

===Basics===

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; Hello. : Hello. (''Hello '')

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; Hello. (''informal'') : Bonġu. (''BON-dew '')

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{{infobox|Common signs|

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; How are you? : Kif inti? ('' kiyf int-ee?'')

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All of the common signs in Malta (such as Open and Close) are written either in English, or using international symbols, so travellers should not have a problem.}}